All over our entertainment devices, dating apps and websites have become inevitable. Although there are many successful “love-finder” apps, there are few to none places to search for friends with a purpose. Nathan Lipinski, an alumni of UMD, also had this realization while studying abroad but struggled finding people to interact with. Soon after, he set out to create an app solely to meet new people and develop friendships.

Platonic is a geolocation mobile app that bridges the gap between starting a conversation and meeting new people. It was founded by Lipinski and co-created by others, including UMD students such as Andrew Weisz and Jessica Leung. The app focuses on bringing together users with common interests to create platonic friendships, hence its name.

“The hope for this app is to help students get out of their bubble and help create more real friendships for people that don't want one that revolves around a sexual atmosphere,”  Weisz said. 

Building the Dream Duluth, co-created by Alex Kozitza and Matthew Lambert, is a platform for connecting local business owners and community members on a deeper level and has also assisted Platonic and shared how the app features were created. 

“The team has studied the process by which people make friends, then designing the app to use these techniques,” Kozitza and Lambert said. 

The creation of Platonic started almost a year ago in December and is still currently in its final stages of beta testing but the team is planning to release it to the app stores in the next few months, according to Weisz. 

Weisz’s envisions Platonic to “become the world's most innovative real-time meet-up application by using trust, culture, and connection.”

Be on the lookout for Platonic if you’re looking to create connections and friendships both locally and globally.